Off Course
by Just A Random Pencil
Summary: "We only have one shot, but according to my math, we should be able to make it." Skywarp took a double take, for the first time looking like he was having second thoughts about the plan. "Hold up, should?" The engines ignited at full force and the ship launched off. (Sequel to Trine Me, now with 30% more plot! Rated T for safety.)
1. Chapter 1

This is a sequel to my other story Trine Me. If you haven't read that, I suggest you stop and go read that first. For everyone else who has already read Trine Me, welcome! As always, Transformers isn't mine and I don't make money off it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Despite the fact Thundercracker knew that they were leaving Cybertron, it never felt so real until they were standing outside the fully repaired ship and about to launch off.

Skywarp gave a long appreciative whistle, putting his servos on his hips as he gazed upon the spacecraft.

"We did it TC."

"I'm sorry, '_we_'? I did all the work. You just spray painted it."

"I know, it looks awesome."

Truth was, the ship looked like scrap even before Skywarp went crazy with the paint. It was all a jumbled mess of mismatched parts welded together, the sunlight exposing all its imperfections in plain sight.

It was a monstrosity of a spacecraft, but Skywarp was beaming with pride at his work, and Thundercracker just couldn't bring himself to burst his bubble.

"It's functional." He finally said. "That's all that matters."

Skywarp rolled his optics. "Yeah, yeah, you're just jealous of my artistic talent."

"...Right. Now let's go over the plan again."

"Again? We've done it like a million times. I know the plan."

Thundercracker crossed his arms. "Oh really? I told you the plan this morning. What is it?"

"The-the plan?"

"Yes, the plan. The one you should know already because we've gone over it 'a million times.'"

"Uh…"

"Exactly. So, we'll go over it one more time, and for the love of Primus, pay attention this time."

Skywarp's optics immediately tore away from admiring his so-called art. "Ok, I'm totally 100% focused."

"Now, we're going straight to Target Planet, to find Megatron. No detours. No stops. No 'scenic routes'. Just from Point A to Point B. Got it?" It was an extremely abridged version of the actual plan, one last ditch effort to get his trinemate to grasp at least the basic point. Emphasis on _basic_.

Thundercracker could see the cogs slowly turning in Skywarp's CPU, before he nodded. "Yeah, I got it. Can we go now?"

He took a deep breath. "Ok. Let's go."

"_Finally!_" Skywarp whizzed past him, wings nearly smacking the blue Seeker in the faceplates.

He barged into the ship and plopped down on the captain's seat.

"Woohoo! Target Planet, here we come!" He waited for Thundercracker to order him to get out of the seat. When nothing happened, he looked around the make-shift cockpit, and realized that it was empty.

Thundercracker was still outside, staring at the open access hatch to the ship. The longer he looked at it, the more it looked like the maw of a giant scraplet, waiting to devour him. The illusion was shattered when Skywarp stuck his head out and hollered.

"Hey TC! C'mon, get moving, I'm starting to rust over here!"

No response.

His red optics narrowed in suspicion. "Wait a nano-klik, are you stalling?"

Thundercracker's wings slightly rose and stiffened. "No. I'm just trying to be as prepared as possible."

"You are! What's the big hold-up? Leaving Cybertron was your idea."

"I _know_." He was taken aback at how strongly he said that, and cleared his vocalizer before repeating, "I know, but it might be a long time until we come back, and I wanted to take a moment before we go."

Skywarp sighed. "Fine. I'll wait inside."

Left alone, Thundercracker gazed out to the horizon and saw the barren, war-ravaged surface of Cybertron. The dead planet looked like scrap, but it was still their home. It would be a long time until they'd come back, if they ever did. Either way, he wanted to take this final image of it.

He shut his optics and for a moment listened to the quiet thrum of his spark.

It was time.

He turned around and marched towards the ship, heavy steps echoing in the silence.

He climbed aboard, then frowned. "Skywarp, get out of the seat."

The purple Seeker threw his helm back against the seat, making a sharp _clang_. "Ugh, I knew you were gonna say that."

He shifted over to the passenger seat, allowing Thundercracker to sit down on the captain's seat and push a button on the control console. They strapped themselves in, hatch door locking with a definitive _click_. This was truly the point of no return.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this." He muttered and gripped the sides of the steering wheel.

The spaceship rumbled to life as he pushed the correct sequence of buttons. The vessel was so ancient it still had multicolored glowing buttons instead of the modern sleek interactive screen.

"We only have one shot, but according to my math, we should be able to make it."

Skywarp took a double take, for the first time looking like he was having second thoughts about the plan. "Hold up, _should_?"

The engines ignited at full force and the ship launched off. They were thrown back against their seats, escape velocity slamming into them mercilessly. The steering wheel throttled, Thundercracker struggled to keep it steady. He had to, or they wouldn't make it past the stratosphere.

_Just a little longer_, he thought, or maybe screamed, it was hard to tell, _we're almost there_, _hold on just a little longer._

"We're not gonna make it!" Skywarp wailed, slapping his servos over his audial receptors to block out the sound of the ship screaming as it tore through the denser part of the atmosphere.

Warnings popped up in Thundercracker's vision, which suggested transforming to alt-mode in order to better handle the crushing pressure. He shut the pop-ups immediately.

The sky darkened, faintly shining stars manifesting. The rattling ship blasted through the ever thinning atmosphere. Finally, it broke free. Thundercracker yanked a lever to reverse the thrusters and reduce speed before they shot off in the wrong direction. In the cabin, they began to float, held back by the seat restraints. The blue Seeker started looking for the button to activate artificial gravity when he caught a glimpse outside the viewing glass and paused.

An infinite quantity of stars, shimmering light years away. Everything, from the distant galaxies to the smallest chunk of ice, moved with a mathematically precise order. Yet amidst order, was chaos. Though he couldn't see it, stars were destroyed, meteorites scarred planets, and black holes devoured everything within reach. Side by side, these two forces were locked in a timeless battle and the universe was the result of it.

Seeing space in person for the first time was very humbling, and naturally, the moment was ruined by Skywarp's perpetual screaming.

"Skywarp, we're here."

"We are?" He cracked open an optic, and uncurled from his fetal position with an awkward cough. "Yeah, see? I told you we were gonna make it."

He resisted the urge to roll his optics and instead pressed another button to activate artificial gravity. They both plunked down, the odd weightless sensation instantly gone.

"It's been a long time since we last saw the Decepticons and Autobots. We don't know what's happened in the war since. It's imperative to be cautious." He quietly said, running once again the stats in his CPU and coming to the same conclusion. In the event of an attack, their spaceship only had its small size and maneuverability as an advantage. It was not a comforting thought.

"Heh. I'll pound any Auto-dorks I see to scrap." Skywarp slammed a fist into his open palm.

The blue Seeker turned the wheel in the direction towards Target Planet, and started their journey.

* * *

Skywarp kicked his pedes up on the dashboard. "So, what exactly am I gonna do again?"

"Nothing. Just sit there and don't touch anything important. Also, get your pedes off the dashboard."

"Why? Dashboard isn't important."

"_Skywarp_-" He began in a low, warning tone.

"Ok, I'll do it. Geez, don't get your wires in a twist." The purple Seeker set his pedes down as loudly as possible. "There, happy?"

Thundercracker merely sighed.

"One. Two. Three."

"What are you doing?" Thundercracker had to keep his gaze firmly ahead, and was unable to see what his trinemate was up to now.

"I'm counting everything I see outside." He replied before seamlessly resuming his count. "Four. Five. Six."

"Can you do it in silence?"

"Seven. Eight - Fine."

Not even a whole klik passed before Thundercracker heard the first melodramatic sigh. Truth was, it didn't initially bother him, and he barely noted it. But then it happened again. And again. And again. He did his best to ignore it, but Skywarp kept sighing.

Sigh.

_Sigh._

_SIGH._

Each one was longer and more exaggerated. His wings flinched with every blasted sigh, rising higher bit by bit with tension. He didn't have to look to know that Skywarp had an obnoxious smirk all over his faceplates.

The purple Seeker took a deep vent. He bristled, waiting for the inevitable.

One nano-klik passed. Two nano-kliks. Three. Four. He knew it was coming, it was only a matter of time.

_SSIIGGHH._

"Would you _stop _it?"

The purple Seeker blinked with a faux innocent face. "Stop what? I'm just venting. What, I can't do that anymore?"

Not even a whole cycle into their voyage and Thundercracker was almost bashing his helm against the steering wheel out of desperation.

This was going to be a _long _trip.

* * *

It was only a matter of time before the unavoidable happened.

"TC?"

"What?"

"I'm bored."

"You could always check whether the ship needs an oil change." Thundercracker offered.

"There's nothing to do on this tin can." He said, completely ignoring the suggestion.

"Or count the rations."

"There's _nothing _to do..." Skywarp slouched on his seat with a sigh.

"You have no idea what it feels like to be _this _close," He brought his index and thumb nearly touching, "to losing your processor."

"Oh, I might have some idea…" Thundercracker quietly said.

"TC! We're not talking about you, we're talking about _my _problems and how _you're _going to fix them."

"Alright, fine." He held the steering wheel with one servo, and dug into his sub-space for his datapad. "If you break it, I will not hesitate to offline you."

"Got it." Skywarp carefully took the datapad like his life depended on it, which… it did actually.

"The access code is 1-0-1-8-1-9."

The purple Seeker tapped in the numbers. "Nice, I get to read all your logs."

"No, that code only grants you limited access to several audio logs the Decepticons left behind." He corrected. "There's enough content to last the whole trip."

Skywarp made a face like he had a bad cube of Energon. "Seriously?"

"It'll serve as entertainment, won't it? Plus, you might even learn something."

"But I don't wanna learn stuff!"

"Very well, then hand my datapad back and wait in absolute silence until it's your turn to drive." The blue Seeker extended a servo expectantly, palm up.

"_Rise Up_, huh? I think I'll start with that." He selected that file.

"_CHAPTER ONE: THE BEGINNING!_" Megatron's booming voice echoed throughout the ship.

Thundercracker couldn't help but smirk. It was rare when Skywarp got annoyed for a change, and it felt _fantastic_.

* * *

"It's your turn to drive."

Skywarp pumped a fist. "Yes!"

This was literally the only reason Skywarp was on board with the plan. The obsolete ship lacked an auto-pilot system, requiring it to be manually navigated at all times.

In theory, he could drive by himself. Except they'd have to pause for him to recharge, which would double the time it'd take to reach Target Planet. Furthermore, he knew that trying to stop Skywarp from touching the steering wheel, and assuming he'd listen for once, was a mistake which would only lead to disaster.

"Remember, you're only driving whenever I have to recharge, which will be in very limited occasions for exactly 6 cycles each time."

"Yeah, yeah, 6 cycles, whatever." He reached out for the wheel in a _gimme_-_gimme _motion.

"Not so fast. This isn't like flying in alt-mode. I'm going to give you a few pointers. First off, you need to hold the steering wheel with both servos."

"Got it."

"Check the screen frequently to make sure you stay the course."

"Uh huh."

"Never accelerate or brake too hard, or the ship will get out of control."

"Ok."

"Oh, and-"

"I said I got it!" Skywarp snapped. "Now are you gonna let me drive or what?"

"Right, of course." His limbs were stiff and creaked with every movement as he stood up and stepped back. The purple Seeker immediately hunkered down on the captain's chair and clutched the steering wheel with both servos.

Thundercracker lingered a moment longer, waiting for the ship to explode, or for Autobots to materialize out of thin air and attack, or for Unicron himself to pop in. Something. Anything. But no. Other than some mild turbulence as Skywarp got the hang of it, everything was fine. Surprisingly, disaster didn't strike the instant he allowed Skywarp to pilot the spaceship.

He stretched his arms over his helm, back struts cracking. He sighed, feeling the built-up pressure and tension dissipate. It was a good thing the berths weren't far. They were located just a bit behind the cockpit, one on either side. He shambled towards them when he realized there was a giant pile of…_something _on one of them.

It was a hodgepodge of bits and pieces of unrecognizable things scattered throughout. In any other circumstance, he would have called out Skywarp for bringing his useless junk aboard. Instead he turned to the other berth and collapsed face-down.

_Ba-bang! _Or tried to. There was a problem. His wings didn't fit. Every tiny movement had them hitting against the berth and confined walls. He ended up on his side facing the dull gray wall, wings folded flat parallel to the berth. It wasn't a very comfortable position, but it was the only one that worked in such a confined space.

He propped himself up on his elbow, ignoring his wings that smacked against the berth for the umpteenth time, and lifted his head up.

"Skywarp, are you sure you can handle it?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Nothing bad is gonna happen." The purple Seeker assured with a carefree wave, the last thing Thundercracker heard before lying back down and slipping into a long overdue recharge.

* * *

In an unidentified place, it was pitch black. Sinisterly shadowy. In other words, dark. Suddenly, a bright red dot popped up on a screen.

"Unidentified spacecraft detected. Readings are confirmed to be Decepticon." The computer's flat, monotone voice rumbled throughout the bridge.

"That so?" There was the sound of quick tapping, sending a command into the system. "Well, I say that merits some further investigating."

* * *

Well, I really hope you all liked the first chapter to the story.

I imagine the ship to look like the Jackhammer and that it works like a car, with a steering wheel and a gas pedal. I don't really know how spaceships work.

Who do you think the mystery transformer is? It's not an OC, and could be anyone from any TF universe. You can leave your guesses in the reviews, or just wait until the next chapter. I won't judge. (Secretly judges)


	2. Chapter 2

Here it is people, chapter 2! Man, you would not believe how proud I feel to have this uploaded on time. I also wanted to say that if you see dialogue in single quotation marks like 'this', it means TC and Warp are using their comm links to talk to each other.

* * *

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

Skywarp silently mouthed the numbers, and right on cue Thundercracker began to snore.

"The _S.S. Skywarp _is mine!" He cackled with a grin, knowing that the blue Seeker was so deep in recharge he wouldn't hear a thing.

Technically, they never agreed to name the ship, but since he spray painted it, that pretty much gave him ownership of the vessel and made him the captain.

"Captain Skywarp." He tried it out, letting the title roll off his glossa. "Yeah, I like the sound of that."

Leaning back against the seat to look cooler, he spotted a blinking button. "What's this?" He feigned surprise at the fuel gauge marker. "An incoming communication?"

He pretended to push it with an added _boop _for dramatic effect.

"This is Captain Skywarp, of the _S.S. Skywarp_. State your business. What's that? You dare challenge me? Don't you know who I am? I'm Captain Skywarp, the best-no, the _greatest _pilot in the whole galaxy. I can fly circles around anything! Anytime, anywhere."

The purple Seeker yelped and jumped as something whizzed by. It was another ship, making this the first time they had seen anyone else in the whole trip so far.

"Think, Skywarp, what would TC do?" He pondered for a moment. "Eh, guess I'll have to ask him when he wakes up."

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his optics locked onto the rapidly retreating spacecraft.

"Oh, it's _on_." He slammed his pede on the pedal, unaware how the sudden burst of speed threw Thundercracker backwards and knocked his helm against the back of the cabin. Miraculously, he didn't wake up.

The engine rumbled and whined with strain, as the _S.S Skywarp _caught up to the other vessel and surpassed it.

"Ha! Eat my space dust!" He threw his helm back and cackled, but his opponent simply veered off left in a perfect 90 degree turn. "_Hey! _Get back here!"

He followed suit, the sharp turn slamming Thundercracker against the wall face-first. Which, again, didn't wake him up.

This time, he swerved ahead in an attempt to cut it off, but the other ship went up, over, and kept going on its merry way. Once again leaving him in second place. His optics narrowed to slits. "Well played. But you messed with the wrong captain!"

Skywarp was so honed in on winning, that he wasn't really aware when they shifted away from open space to an asteroid field. All he knew was that there suddenly a whole lot more obstacles to dodge in the race. By now, the blue Seeker was just a mess of tangled limbs being tossed around in the back with every rapid fire twist and turn. Yet he remained deep in recharge.

Everything was going great.

Then the other ship crashed into an asteroid.

"HOLY PRIMUS!" He reversed the thrusters and screeched to a halt. Behind him, a scuffed and dented Thundercracker was dumped on his berth in a heap.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad." Skywarp tried to brush off.

The crashed ship promptly blew up.

"Scrap." He cringed. "Uh, you off-lined doing what you loved, I think, I don't know. I gotta get out of here before-"

He jolted at a particularly loud snore from the back. "Oh, you're still recharging, TC."

Then it hit him.

"You're still _recharging_." He repeated, and looked out the viewing glass with a slowly growing smile. "And there's literally nobody else here, so no one saw that. I just gotta back away nice and easy, no big deal. TC won't find out, and everything's going to be totally fine."

He smoothly backed away from the wreckage.

* * *

In the same _pitch-black-sinisterly-shadowy-in-other-words-dark _location, the camera feed cut off to static, then went black with a simple message on screen.

_Signal lost._

He scowled. The destruction of his surveillance drone ship was unfortunate, but at least he had gotten a more detailed analysis of what he was looking at.

Now, it was time to deal with this personally.

* * *

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

At first, Thundercracker thought it was his alarm and opened his optics, only to be bombarded by flashing red lights. This jarred his CPU that was still in the process of booting up, and caused a disorientation which was exacerbated by the deafening racket. Ultimately, it resulted in a splitting processor ache.

Then he remembered that he didn't set his alarm before recharging.

_I knew it. _He thought. He jumped from his berth, only to double over. Everything _hurt _and he had no idea why. Pushing the pain aside, he stormed to the captain's seat where Skywarp was frantically smashing every button in sight.

"I knew it." He hissed, pointing an accusatory digit at him, "I _knew _you were going to mess it up!"

Skywarp briefly looked over at him, with a too wide and fake smile. "Hey, you're up! Woah, you look like you were shook around in a giant tin can. What happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Thundercracker checked his chronometer and balked at the number. "Skywarp! You were only supposed to drive six cycles!"

"I know, but you looked so tired." He explained. "I thought it'd be fair to let you rest a little longer."

"Liar, you just wanted to drive more!"

Skywarp shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, you're right, I did."

Multiple objects zipped by. Thundercracker looked outside and realized those were asteroids. "This wasn't supposed to be on the map. Where are we?"

"That...is an excellent question."

"You don't know?! Didn't you follow the directions?"

"I did, but then-"

Suddenly, their ship was hit hard and was violently rocked. Thundercracker almost lost his footing, barely managing to grab onto the back of the passenger seat for stability. Something in the back exploded. Several buttons flashed red.

"Thrusters have been compromised."

Skywarp looked relieved. "Oh, I thought it was something bad."

"It _is _bad-LOOK OUT!" He screamed.

Skywarp swerved aside in a tight spin, narrowly avoiding the asteroid. Thundercracker smacked against the ceiling and fell back down hard. He clutched his chest to calm his racing spark.

"You're going to get us scrapped! Give me the wheel!" He lunged forward and grabbed it, but Skywarp clung on to it and tried to shove him away.

"No way! It's mine!"

They fought over the steering wheel, trying to push the other out of the captain's seat, jerking the wheel left and right. The metal bended under the force, turning more into an oval than a circle, and then it snapped clean off.

Skywarp passed it over to him without complaint. "Here you go TC, all yours."

Realizing the ship was hurtling straight towards a giant asteroid at full speeds, Thundercracker dumped the wheel and pushed the button to open the hatch. Skywarp, who had unknowingly shifted in front of it, was immediately sucked out, his shriek instantly swallowed up by the vacuum.

The blue Seeker leapt out and transformed, thrusters going at max. Behind him, the ship crashed with a silent explosion. It partially destroyed the asteroid and triggered a makeshift storm of shrapnel and debris.

The force of the shock wave slammed into him and blasted him further away. He spun out of control, a sharp piece of shrapnel clipping his wingtip. Instinctively, Thundercracker tried to reorient himself by locating the sky, but space didn't have _skies_. It was just stars and asteroids blurring together in an incomprehensible mess.

He saw gray a split nano-klik before he collided with a small asteroid, the glass of his cockpit cracking at the impact. The rough uneven surface scraped his underside. He transformed, his momentum launching him straight into a crater just deep enough for him to take shelter in. He shut his optics and closed off his vents against the incoming dust storm. It smashed against the asteroid, shrapnel flying overhead in a vicious barrage.

Unable to rely on vision or audio, the only way Thundercracker could tell it settled was when the deep vibrations ceased. Opening his optics, he realized he was covered in a layer of fine dust, which he attempted to wipe off only for his sensors to explode in agony.

In just the small area he wiped off his chest, he could see deep scratches and dents. The rest of the frame was most likely in a similar state. Fortunately, he didn't have any Energon leaks or any more critical injuries. Had he gone any faster, he wouldn't have survived the freefall. He gritted his dentae, and waited until the pain subsided to a dull ache before standing up.

Chunks of the ship were scattered in every direction, an inescapable reminder that everything - the solar cycles he endlessly toiled, the plan he meticulously crafted - was all destroyed and meaningless now.

He wrenched out a piece that had jammed onto the edge of the crater. It still had traces of spray paint on it.

_Skywarp! _He had been so focused on the immediate necessity of surviving the explosion that he forgot about his trinemate. As far as he could see, there was an endless sea of asteroids ranging in size from pebbles to gargantuan. But no trace of that tacky purple and black color scheme anywhere.

Thundercracker tried messaging Skywarp over the comm link, but received an error box in his vision.

He scanned the immediate area, but that didn't yield better results. It didn't mean anything. There were plenty of rational explanations as to why he couldn't get ahold of Skywarp's current whereabouts. Interference from mineral deposits in the asteroids. Space radiation. Or that earlier fall screwed him up more than he thought.

It didn't stop his spark from beating a little faster.

Thundercracker surveyed the damage once more, identifying where the trail of destruction thinned out. Skywarp would most likely be somewhere far from the crash site.

Remaining in bipedal mode, he activated his heel thrusters and flew in that direction. He kept his scanners on maximum range, ignoring the little voice in the back of his processor that said there was a possibility he wouldn't ever pick up on Skywarp's signal again.

He continuously sent out messages through the comm link, deleting the error pop-up again and again.

'TC.'

He froze. Tentatively, he sent another message. 'Skywarp?'

'Y-h, it-me.'

'Where are you?' He couldn't see him nearby and his scans were still not picking up on anything.

'I-c-n't-ear-yo.' The signal kept breaking up, confirming his earlier hypothesis of interference.

'Keep talking, I need to see where the signal is strongest.'

'G-t it.'

Through trial and error, he managed to pinpoint where the interference was weakest.

'I've got it. Don't move. I'll come to you.'

'-K.'

He found Skywarp at the outskirts of the asteroid field. Upon seeing him, the purple Seeker waved him over. He landed and walked over to him.

'Were you damaged?' He asked.

Skywarp patted himself down and shook his helm. He didn't have so much as a single scratch. 'No, I don't think so.'

'Good.' Thundercracker socked him right in the jaw.

'What was that for?!' He nursed his sore face.

'For crashing the ship.'

'That's not my fault! In fact, I take no responsibility for this. If anything, it's your fault TC.' He jabbed a digit to his shoulder.

'Me?!'

He really felt like punching Skywarp again, but the purple Seeker stepped away from his punching range and nodded.

'Yeah, because if you had just let me pilot more, none of this would've happened.'

His wings bristled. 'That doesn't make any sense!'

'It makes _all _the sense.'

'That-!' Thundercracker caught himself, and shook his head. 'I don't even know why I put up with you.' He turned and started walking in the other direction.

Skywarp gaped. 'H-hey! Where do you think you're going?'

'I need some time alone.'

'Fine! Go brood on that side, you...you _brooder_!' He winced at how weak his insult came out. It had sounded cooler in his processor. He crossed his arms and watched Thundercracker walk to the other end of the tiny asteroid and sit down at the edge.

* * *

The stars were much clearer than back on Cybertron. It was logical, since there was no heavily polluted atmosphere to block them out.

Thundercracker would have sighed, but any gas within his frame was long sucked out by the dead vacuum. His plating pressed down as close as possible in an attempt to conserve warmth.

Five kliks. That was how long he would allow himself to be angry. Because for this one instance, he simply needed to feel the whirlwind of outrage, uncertainty and fear. Then he was going to be the bigger mech.

He set the timer, and glared at the cosmos. When the time ended, he stood up, withdrew his EM field close to his frame, and walked over to Skywarp's side of the asteroid.

'I'm sorry for hitting you.'

'It's fine.' The purple Seeker shrugged. 'I kind of deserved it. Been waiting a long time to punch me?'

'Since the solar-cycle we met.' Thundercracker admitted.

'Yeah, I could tell.' He rubbed his still aching jaw. 'So, what's the plan?'

His wings slumped, as if being crushed under a huge weight, before Thundercracker replied. 'There is no plan.'

'But you _always _have a plan.' That's how it had always been. He'd make a mistake, and Thundercracker would come up with the perfect solution to fix it. It was a simple and constant fact like the speed of light.

'Not this time. As far as I can tell, we're nowhere near Target Planet. In fact, we're farther away. We lost the ship, and almost all the Energon reserves.' Everything they had left was stored in their subspace pockets, but it just wasn't enough to cover the distance. 'The possibility we would make it is very slim.'

'So, that's it?' Skywarp exclaimed. 'We're just going to sit here on this stupid rock until our sparks go out?'

He nodded. 'Unless a better option presents itself, then yes, I suppose we will.'

'How are you okay with all of this?!' The purple Seeker flailed his arms.

'I'm not. I'm being pragmatic.' He clarified. 'I'm simply trying to come to terms with that before I lose my higher thought processes from Energon deprivation.'

'Right…you do that.' He gave the blue Seeker an awkward pat on the shoulder. 'I'll just be over there.'

Several kliks passed. It didn't take long before Thundercracker's audial receptors started creating false white noise to compensate for the utter dead silence weighing down on him. He was still trying to think of a solution, but there really weren't a whole lot of options.

The asteroid shivered with slight tremors. His brow furrowed. It was almost as if…

Without warning, a rock right next to him was blown into smithereens. Thundercracker recoiled away. It'd been so close the tiny burst of heat singed the paint nanites on his lower leg.

He whirled around. The nearby asteroids were peppered with scorch marks. Dust and debris was once again being stirred up. In the middle of it all, Skywarp was firing in all directions.

'What are you doing!?'

'I'm blowing stuff up to get that ship's attention!' He briefly paused to point behind him before going back at shooting everything in sight. Thundercracker turned and spotted a huge spaceship looming in the distance outside the asteroid field. It made theirs look pathetic with its jagged, pointy, and frankly more impressive design.

'Are you insane!? We don't know who it is.'

'Just trust me, yeah?'

It didn't matter whether Thundercracker trusted the trigger-happy moron or not, since Skywarp's idea worked. Whoever was on the spaceship had noticed the gunfire and was coming towards them.

Skywarp grabbed his forearm and shook him hard. 'It's coming TC! We're saved!'

Thundercracker could have fled. That would have been the rational thing to do. But that wasn't what trines did. So he stood there next to Skywarp, allowing his window of opportunity to slip away and vanish as the ship got closer.

'If we end up scrapped, I'm blaming you.' He stated as he pried the iron grip off.

Undeterred by his lack of enthusiasm, Skywarp continued whooping. 'We're saved! We're saved! We're-hey, that looks like the ship I blew up.' He slapped a servo over his mouth, but it was too late.

Thundercracker looked at him, optics wide. 'You did _what_?'

He instantly regretted not escaping when he could.

* * *

Fun fact, space is cold. Like -454.81 °F cold. The Arctic during winter can be around −58 °F. However, episode 'Scrapheap' establishes that long term exposure could cause permanent system damage to _Autobots_. So my thought is that D-cons wouldn't freeze in space, but still be somewhat affected if they stay out there too long.

Unless you're Megatron that is, who shot logic and science with his fusion cannon. But maybe Starscream wasn't that off when he said Megatron "came down with a touch of space madness."

Anyways, enough science rambling. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Next up, our mystery mech is finally revealed!


	3. Chapter 3

Alright! Half-way through the story and we _finally _get to expand on the cast of characters.

* * *

"You're welcome."

Thundercracker looked up at Skywarp. "What?"

He winced at his own voice, despite not having been very loud. His audials were still adjusting to the sudden input of noise, to the point he could hear things he normally wouldn't - the rumble of the ship's engine, the crackle of electricity, even Skywarp's thrumming spark.

"I said, you're welcome." He repeated.

"I'm sorry, do you _honestly _expect me to thank you?"

"Yeah, because if it wasn't for me, we'd still be stuck on that asteroid." Skywarp said.

"If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been there in the first place." Thundercracker pointed out.

"Whatever. _Shrug. _I still got us off, didn't I?"

"Oh, and _this_ is so much better?" He would have lifted his arms up, but the stasis cuffs clamped on his wrists kept him immobile save for his optics. He blinked. "Did you really just say 'shrug'?"

"Yeah, because I can't actually shrug." Skywarp explained from the opposite side of the cell where he sat, propped up against the wall. "At least this place is roomier than our ship. Besides, I didn't see _you _coming up with any bright ideas."

"I would have thought of something eventually." But the truth was that if the other larger ship hadn't passed by, Thundercracker wouldn't have been able to procure a solution.

"But you didn't. I did. Me. This guy, right here. _Point. _I have to say 'point' because-"

"Alright, I get it." He cut him off. "What's your plan?"

"Duh, phase one was to show where we were, get them to notice us. Phase two is getting on the ship. Phase three is…uh...y'know, I didn't think we'd make it past phase two." He looked away to a very interesting scuff on the floor.

"Neither did I." Thundercracker muttered, shooting shifty glances as if someone was listening in.

"Hey, this planning shtick is new to me ok?" The purple Seeker snapped.

"No, it's not that. What I meant to say is that I thought we were going to be shot."

"Oh. But we weren't. That's a good thing." He saw Thundercracker's grave expression. "…right?"

"I'm not sure."

At first, Thundercracker thought it was an oversight of their captor to throw both of them in the same windowless cell, until he realized they both had stasis cuffs. Other than that, everything had gone along perfectly with standard prisoner procedure. Disabled comm-links. Emptied subspaces. Chronometer access locked. Disarmed weapons. Clearly, their captor was a professional at holding captives and wasn't taking chances with them.

Skywarp's optics slanted in the closest approximation to a frown. Before he could say anything, they heard heavy pede steps and an awful metallic _screech _as something slowly scraped against the metal wall of the hallway. A sound like that was bad enough for anyone, but on hypersensitive audials reacclimatizing from space exposure, it felt like being dunked in acid.

"That slagging hurts!" He hissed.

"I know." There was a strain to the blue Seeker's voice.

They couldn't do anything but withstand the grating torture that kept getting louder as their captor got closer to them. The screech was occasionally broken up with a series of _tat-tat-tat-tat-tat_, evidently from hitting the bars from other cells.

"Skywarp?"

Screech.

"What?"

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.

"I'll do the talking, alright?"

_Screech._

"_Nod_. I have to say nod because I can't move."

_Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat._

"I get it. Just keep your voicebox quiet, I'll handle it."

_SCREECH. _It was right behind Thundercracker, stopping right before hitting the glowing red bars.

From his angle, all he could see was a couple of other empty cells and the indistinct shadow of the mech. But Skywarp sat on the opposite side and had a perfect view of who it was.

"HOLY PRIMUS THAT'S THE UGLIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!"

"_Skywarp!_"

"What did you say?" The mech had a rough drawl, underlined with an accent Thundercracker couldn't place.

"Nothing, he didn't say anything-" Thundercracker's optics went wide as their presumed captor stepped closer and he got the chance to see who they were dealing with. He went silent. Any wrong word, any wrong action, and it'd be over for them. But Skywarp hadn't been entirely wrong. Even in the dim eerie red glow from the minimal lighting, he could tell that this mech hardly looked like a Cybertronian and more like an unholy amalgamation of parts slapped together.

The mech - grounder, Thundercracker noted – nodded. "Yeah, I know I ain't got the nicest mug to look at. There's no need to deny it."

"Oh, ok. Cuz yeah, your face looks like it was chewed up by scraplets."

"Shut up!" If it weren't for the stasis cuffs, he would have throttled his idiotic trinemate.

"What? It's true."

"Neither of you have any idea who I am, do you?" It wasn't a question.

"No, but I feel like you're gonna tell us." The purple Seeker said.

"Name's Lockdown, and I want to know which one of you is the captain."

"That'd be me. Captain Skywarp of the _S.S Skywarp_, the greatest pilot in the galaxy." He said without hesitating a beat.

"Really? The greatest?" Lockdown scoffed. "I doubt you could even fly in a straight line."

Skywarp gasped. All flyers, especially Seekers, took pride in their aerial dominance and hated when anyone dared to insult their flight capabilities.

By the glint in his optics, Thundercracker could tell Lockdown had done it on purpose. He tried to shake his head, forgetting that he couldn't, and by then it was too late.

"That's not true! I can out-fly anything. If you don't believe me, you can ask that _uuuugly _little ship from back there. Oh wait, you _can't_, because I took it down myself. It was super easy too, I didn't even pull a strut."

"_Skywarp__!_"

Lockdown smirked. "Is that so? Well, let me tell you something. I'm what you call a bounty hunter. Decepticons pay real good for info, battle plans, access codes. In all these eons I've never failed. And that drone ship you destroyed? Was _mine_."

Anyone with a functioning circuit board would have realized the deep scrap they were in now. Skywarp was not anyone.

"Huh, no wonder it was so ugly. It kind of looked like your face now that I think about it…" He trailed off.

Other than a slight twitch in his optic, Lockdown's expression betrayed nothing as he tapped on something outside their cell.

The bars snapped back. He lunged forward, grabbed Skywarp by the neck and yanked him up to optic level. All in a matter of nano-kliks.

"Hey, watch the paintjob!" Skywarp's EM field lashed out in agony, a sharp contrast to his completely limp and dangling frame.

"Trust me, paint's going to be the least of your worries once I'm through with you." The bounty hunter growled, lifting a wicked sharp hook.

"Oh come on! It was just one stupid ship. It already looked like it was heading to the scrap heap, so if anything I did you a favor." He wheezed, unable to do anything but watch the hook get closer and closer to his face.

Thundercracker crunched the numbers through his processor, but came up blank with viable solutions. Time was running out.

Just before Skywarp's face got skewered, the lights turned on. The three of them hissed in disquiet at the sudden brightness. A tan grounder rushed over, pedes clacking on the floor, and stopped outside their cell.

"Woah, hold it! Is that any way to treat our guests?"

"What are you doing here Swindle?" Lockdown asked, still holding Skywarp up by the neck.

"Why, I'm stopping you from making a huge mistake!" He declared, big purple optics narrowing. "You were supposed to check if the EMP blast had worn off, not shred them to pieces."

"EMP blast?" Thundercracker murmured under his breath. He dimly recalled being struck with a flash of yellow and then nothing, before waking up in the brig.

"Yeah Lockdown, that's what you were supposed to do." Skywarp piped up, voice hoarse and laced with static. The grip on his neck tightened a little more, immediately shutting him up.

For a moment, no one moved or said anything. It was clear they were waiting for Lockdown's reaction. Then, the bounty hunter unceremoniously dumped Skywarp. He stepped outside the cell, once again tapped on what Thundercracker assumed had to be the access keypad. The bars went back up, neatly separating captives from captors.

Swindle turned to face them, with a wide smile that showed too many dentae to be genuine.

"Well, I'll be. Two Seekers. I thought you were all gone, but apparently not. Don't you usually travel in threes?"

"Funny story-" The purple Seeker began.

"Aren't you the Swindle from the Combaticons gestalt that make up Bruticus?" Thundercracker decided to intervene before his trinemate could say some other stupid thing.

"Bruticus, haven't heard that name in a while. Why yes, I am. But we got split up during the Exodus, so I figured it was time to strike it solo and become a full-time entrepreneur."

Skywarp squinted. "So, you're a salesbot?"

"I prefer the term intergalactic arms dealer. But enough about me, I'm curious to know what you two Decepticons were doing out in the middle of nowhere." He leaned in against the bars, to appear more casual and relaxed. Like they were old pals catching up, not a captor interrogating their prisoners.

Thundercracker wasn't buying it. "Listen, we don't want any trouble."

"Should have thought of that before blowing up my ship." Lockdown spat as he crossed his mismatched arms.

"Yes, unfortunately my colleague here is right." Swindle nodded. "The only way you're getting out of this predicament is by compensating the property damage."

"We don't have any credits." He explained.

The bounty hunter stepped forward, brandishing his wicked sharp hook. "In that case…"

"Wait! We know Megatron!" It was a spur of the moment decision, and Thundercracker stopped venting entirely.

"Do you now?" The tan mech quirked an eyeridge. Lockdown lowered his hook, evidently disappointed by the turn of events.

"Look, I'll be honest. I like you, and I want to help, I really do, but _everyone_ knows good ol' Megs. So you're going to have to give me more to work with here."

Lockdown perked up at the chance to spill their Energon.

"Right before the Exodus, Lord Megatron assigned us to be Guardians of Cybertron. We lost communication with the Decepticons and decided to search for them. If you were to contact him, he could corroborate this."

"Ok." Swindle said.

"Seriously?" The bounty hunter scowled.

"Hey, they seem pretty sure about it. Doesn't hurt to check. Besides, Megs is my best customer, we go way back." He lifted his forearm, where a screen panel popped open.

He put on another of his signature fake smiles. "Hey Megatron, Swindle here."

"Get to the point."

The arms dealer chuckled. "Right. So there's these two fellas we, ahem, _picked_ up who say they know you. They're the uh, what'cha call yourselves again?"

"Guardians of Cybertron!" They insisted in unison.

"Right. Guardians of Cybertron." He repeated and turned around, allowing them to be seen on screen. "They look familiar to you?"

This was it. Everything would be fixed and settled. Lord Megatron would demand their release, force Lockdown and Swindle to give them another spaceship, and reveal the Decepticons' current location. The nightmare would be over.

Megatron gave them one look. Recognition and surprise flashed across his optics, but he quickly recovered himself. "I've never seen them before in my life."

He ended the call.

"Well, there you have it, straight from the big M himself. Says he doesn't know you. Looks like it's off to the scrapheap for you. Shame." Swindle tsked.

"No, wait! This is all just some huge misunderstanding!" Thundercracker tried, but they weren't hearing any of it.

It was at this point that Thundercracker and Skywarp realized they were royally fragged up now.

* * *

In Fall of Cybertron, Bruticus was last seen being flung into space after getting knocked off the Ark. In my head-canon, they got split up and separated to different corners of the galaxy. Swindle then decided to dedicate himself full-time to business, and eventually partnered up with Lockdown. Because let's face it, a bounty hunter and a salesbot-ahem intergalactic arms dealer would make the perfect evil team-up.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for uploading late.

* * *

The bars of their cell went down. Ironically, Thundercracker found himself wishing they'd be locked up again, if only to have a semblance of a barrier between them and their inevitable offlining.

Lockdown aimed his hook at Skywarp. A gun-like device popped out of his forearm, from which a yellow beam shot out and struck the purple Seeker. His optics went wide, before going dark and closing. To any onlooker, it would appear as if he were offline. But Thundercracker could still hear his trinemate's humming spark, and realized he had simply been knocked out.

_That must be the EMP generator_, Thundercracker thought, as the bounty hunter now aimed the device at him and fired.

Everything went yellow, and then he knew no more.

* * *

The EMP blast would last long enough until they arrived to Lockdown's workshop. The bounty hunter wasn't an idiot, he knew that leaving prisoners conscious when moving them could allow them to map out the Deathhead's layout. Not that they'd get the chance to escape and use that information, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Lockdown retracted his EMP generator and nodded towards Thundercracker before saying, "Grab the blue one."

The bounty hunter stepped inside the cell and dug his hook underneath Skywarp's cuffs to pull him up. He did it with much more force than necessary, and in the process left a long scratch on the Seeker's chest.

"Woah, easy there. Any deeper and you would have drawn Energon." Swindle said as he threw Thundercracker over his shoulder. Since the grounder was shorter, he couldn't fully lift him off the ground, and the Seeker's pedes dragged on the ground.

"Didn't peg you as the type to care." Lockdown didn't carry Skywarp, and instead opted to drag the unconscious Seeker by his cuffs.

"I don't, but it'd be a shame to waste perfectly good Energon." He pointed out, as they navigated through the dark, narrow hallways.

It was amazing what some extra fuel could do. It could always be stored and used later. Compacted into a makeshift grenade to deal with an unpaying customer. Give it to someone in need in order to earn a favor. Every good entrepreneur knew the importance of networking, especially to individuals that were indebted to you.

Lockdown shot him an incredulous look. "Is making a profit all you ever think about?"

"No, I also think about how to spend it." Swindle said. "Which reminds me, we're going to have to buy a new drone ship. Any particular model you're interested in?"

"I want the exact same one."

"No offense, but that tin-can was already on its way to the scrapyard." Lockdown bristled, and he quickly added, "But hey, I think I know where to get it. I'll just make some calls once we wrap this up."

They stopped in front of a door. The bounty hunter tapped in the passcode on the keypad next to it. The automatic door hissed open to reveal his personal workshop.

* * *

Skywarp squinted at the harsh white light directly above him, and flinched away. With a jolt, he realized that he could move. He tried to lift his servo to block the piercing light, but his wrist caught on something.

"Huh? What?" He looked down. Glowing red restraints pinned his servos and pedes to the slab he was laying on. He experimentally tugged on the restraints, but they held strong. He wasn't immobile anymore, but he wasn't going anywhere.

Out of the corner of his vision, he caught a familiar shade of blue to his left. It was Thundercracker, tied down on another slab next to him. His optics were closed. For a moment, Skywarp thought he was offline until he began to stir. The purple Seeker sighed in relief.

"Wakey, wakey! Time to meet your maker!" Swindle cheerfully said. He was over at a table, sorting through a large pile of...

"Hey, that's our stuff!" Skywarp exclaimed in outrage. All their medical supplies, weapons, ammunitions and more was being separated into their respective categories.

"Not anymore it's not." He pointed out, plucking Thundercracker's datapad off the top of the pile. He typed out a series of numbers, but was denied access with an angry _beep_. "I'll figure it out soon enough."

A fist slammed down right next to Skywarp's helm, making him flinch and shriek. Lockdown's mouth curled into a nasty smirk.

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart, slowly, painfully, until you beg me to put you out of your misery."

"Now let's not be hasty." Swindle chided. "You know how hard it is to get decent Seeker spare parts? They're worth a goldmine! Why, we could make enough to retire to a beach island on Nebulos."

While the arms dealer was talking, Skywarp began to notice the rows of shelves stocked to the brim with pieces. _Cybertronian _pieces to be more specific. Arms, legs, helmets, a wide variety of weapons, even the assorted helm of previous victims here and there. Lockdown followed the Seeker's gaze, and nodded towards the closest shelf.

"See that empty spot between the spiky shoulder pads, and the _extra_ spiky shoulder pads? That's where I'm putting _your _helm." He tapped between Skywarp's optics with the tip of his hook.

"Is this about calling you ugly, or about destroying your ship that was also really hideous?" The purple Seeker nervously asked.

Lockdown scowled, optic twitching. But then, Thundercracker fully awoke and blinked. "Is this the Well of All Sparks?"

"Ha, if it was, I don't want to imagine what the Pit is like." Swindle laughed and tried out a different number combination for the datapad, only to get another sharp _beep_.

The bounty hunter shifted his attention to the blue Seeker. His servo transformed to a chainsaw, the serrated edge glinting. "But first, I'll get rid of your friend here."

The buzzing chainsaw slashed through the air as he walked to the other slab and positioned it right above Thundercracker's spark. One thrust, and he'd slice through his spark chamber.

"Nothing personal, just business." Lockdown said, and pushed the chainsaw downwards.

"_**NO!**_" Skywarp screamed, straining against the restraints so hard it cut into his wrists. Energon quickly pooled on the slab and dripped off the edge.

Lockdown froze. So did Swindle, who was in the middle of another attempt to open the datapad. The drops of his spilled Energon stopped in mid-air. Everything had grinded to a halt, like someone had pushed the universal pause button.

Skywarp never realized just how much detail there was in his surroundings, the textures and colors. He could even see the dust floating in the air. All this information was broken down to streaming numbers and data. Something was being calculated in his processor. He didn't know what, but it felt right. It felt so very right, and though he didn't fully understand what was going on, he didn't fight it and allowed the process to finalize.

Skywarp disappeared before his Energon hit the ground.

_Vomp. _That was the best way to describe the sound of displaced air rushing to fill in the spot he was just at.

Right before Lockdown could offline Thundercracker, there was another _vomp_, and a weight slammed into him. His chainsaw missed the blue Seeker, instead shredding through one of his servo restraints, and lodging itself within the slab. But that was the last thing on the bounty hunter's processor, as he stared in disbelief at Skywarp.

"The frag? How did you get free?"

Skywarp looked down at his trembling servos, and back up. His optics were bright and wide. "I have no idea."

* * *

Half of the plot came after realizing that in Trine Me, I never once mention Skywarp's teleporting. So after face palming myself for being an idiot who didn't add this central aspect of Skywarp's character, I had to think of a way to introduce this into the story.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for uploading late. This was supposed to be the penultimate chapter, but it got so long I ended up splitting it.

Enjoy!

* * *

Lockdown was a bounty hunter who had seen a lot in his line of work. Very little fazed him. He could count on one servo the number of times that mechs truly surprised him. Skywarp had escaped and he couldn't explain how, which made the Seeker one of those mechs.

The shock faded from his white face, optics hardening. "However you did it, it won't happen again."

The bounty hunter whipped out his EMP generator. It crackled to life with a bright yellow glow.

Swindle extended a servo, in a vain attempt to stop the green mech. "No! You'll hit the ship!"

But it was too late. Lockdown fired point blank at Skywarp. This time, however, he wasn't in stasis cuffs, and when he saw it coming, he ducked. The shot flew over his helm, and struck Swindle. But instead of toppling over unconscious, the EMP shot ricocheted off him, leaving him unaffected.

The arms dealer looked off in a completely random direction and grinned. "Force field emitter. I picked it up in an arms deal at Nexus zero. Nice creatures the Vok. If you're ever in the Nexus zero area, do yourself a favor and check them out, you won't be sorry."

Skywarp turned towards that same direction, but didn't see anyone else. "Who is he even talking to?" He wondered out loud as he dove behind the nearest rack of assorted parts.

Lockdown barely had the chance to move out of the way of the returning shot. It hit the wall behind him, and the workshop was plunged into darkness.

"Why did you deflect that?" The mismatched mech demanded.

Swindle's purple optics narrowed. "And let myself get knocked into stasis? I think not! I _did _tell you not to use the EMP generator!"

He growled and wrenched his chainsaw out of the slab. "Then don't just stand there and do something!"

"I'm trying!" The tan grounder said as he opened a compartment in his chest and began rummaging through it. "I have just the thing in here somewhere!"

Skywarp suddenly stood up, wings flared out to make him appear larger. "Not so fast! Or I'll use this deadly weapon!"

Said 'deadly weapon' appeared to be a tiny drill of some sorts, laced with dozens of spikes. His face scrunched in confusion. "Huh? Not with that."

The arms dealer pulled out a metal sphere, small enough to fit in his servo.

"Aha! I've got it!" He triumphantly declared.

Skywarp threw the drill in Swindle's direction. It sailed across the workshop, and knocked the sphere right out of his grasp. The small metallic ball rolled close to the slab Thundercracker was tied to. He gave it a glance, and went back to cutting through the restraint on his other servo with his tapered digits.

"No! My Sonic Jammer 3000!"

The purple Seeker picked up a giant semi-automatic blaster, the thing he meant to grab in the first place, and began firing with a crazed laughter.

The gunfire wrecked the workshop. Scorch marks peppered the walls. Swindle's force field deflected several shots in different angles, inadvertently causing even more destruction in the process. One particularly lucky shot bounced off and blew the door's inner access panel, forcing the doors to open.

A rack was hit and began to sway. Skywarp pulled the trigger again, but got a troubling clicking sound. It was empty.

"Scrap. That's not good." He stated, giving the blaster a shake before frantically pulling the trigger again to no avail.

Lockdown and Swindle gave each other a smug smirk, and no longer pinned down by the heavy gunfire, got up and began to advance in on the purple Seeker.

The rack finally toppled over, triggering a domino effect as all the racks in the room were knocked down one after the other. Parts and mods came crashing down with a spectacular chaos. Lockdown and Swindle barely had the chance to look up before they were buried under the wreckage.

Skywarp lowered the blaster, cautiously crossed the workshop to the massive heap of parts and heavy shelves, and gave it a nudge with the blaster barrel. The pile suddenly bulged, muffled cursing coming from within, as Lockdown and Swindle tried to get out.

He yelped and backed away, only for a servo to land on his shoulder. Skywarp jumped and whirled around, swinging the blaster around hard. It struck against metal with a resonating _bang_.

"Ow! What's wrong with you?" Thundercracker wheezed, doubling over and clutching his torso. Any higher and it would have fractured the glass on his chest.

Skywarp's dark wings sagged. "Sorry TC, I didn't know it was you." He reached out to help him, but Thundercracker smacked his servo away and straightened up.

"Never mind that, we have to go. That won't hold them for long." Thundercracker nodded towards the pile that rattled again, as the two trapped mechs inside redoubled their efforts.

Thundercracker spotted his datapad on the floor half-buried under a pile of broken scrap and swiped it up. It was cracked in the bottom left corner, but otherwise intact. He stored it in his sub-space and broke out in a sprint out of the workshop. Skywarp followed suit, though not before throwing the nearest piece of scrap he could grab at the top of the shifting pile, a last ditch effort to further weigh them down.

The Seekers ran down the dark, winding halls of the Deathhead. Their steps clacked and echoed in the empty corridors. Empty, and identical, almost mirror-images. There were no distinguishable marks or signs that screamed "Exit! This way!". They'd be much faster in the air, but there wasn't enough room to fly through. This had to be the first time that it was a serious inconvenience to be a Seeker.

Behind them was the ever present sound of metal screeching – Lockdown's hook. No matter how fast they went, their pursuers always seemed to be one step behind them. Neither of them turned around, Thundercracker laser-focused on finding a way out, and Skywarp knew it was a dumb idea to turn around when being chased.

Then Skywarp tripped and face-planted hard against the floor.

"_Skywarp!_" Thundercracker did a sharp 180 degree turn and went back to help his trinemate.

"It's fine! Go on without me! I'll hold them off!" The purple Seeker feigned bravery.

It was then Thundercracker realized the screeching sound had abruptly ceased, and that there was no one else there, nothing except a long crooked scratch trailing behind them. His gaze followed the scratch. It ended at the giant blaster by Skywarp's side.

Understanding dawned on him. Thundercracker got up. Skywarp looked alarmed and desperately outstretched an arm. "Wait! You can't just leave me here!"

"You'll be fine, we're not being chased." _Yet. _Sooner or later their captors would get out, and then they'd really be in trouble.

"We're not?" The purple Seeker stood up and looked back, seeing the empty hallway. The ridges above his optics furrowed. "But…I heard him. The hook."

"It was just your blaster dragging on the floor." Thundercracker explained.

He not-so-subtly tried to hide the weapon behind his frame. "Oops, my bad."

"We have to keep moving. They'll most likely use that trail to track us down." The blue Seeker said, and walked further down the hallway. Skywarp fumbled to pick up the blaster in his arms and rushed after him.

"But this thing is so heavy, my arms are about to pop off." Skywarp complained.

"Why don't you put it in your sub-space?" He asked.

"Because!" His wingmate lifted his index digit in a matter-of-factly manner, but then lowered it as he sheepishly admitted, "Because…I didn't think of that." He then put it away in his sub-space.

Thundercracker resisted the urge to roll his optics. Even when their sparks were on the line, Skywarp was still the same incompetent fool. It was almost reassuring. It let him know that in their current circumstances, he could always count on Skywarp being, well, Skywarp.

* * *

Sparks flew as Lockdown's chainsaw ripped through the pile from within, slashing the heavy racks to smaller pieces. The heap loosened, and with a guttural roar, the bounty hunter threw off the weight with one mighty push. He was scuffed and dented, a sharp contrast to Swindle's immaculate appearance.

"Force fields, you gotta love them." The arms dealer explained, looking off in that same random direction as he often had the habit of doing.

Lockdown paid no attention to that. The lights flickered back on, the effects of the EMP generator having worn off, and exposed all the damage in plain sight. His workshop was utterly destroyed, his tools, the walls, even the ceiling hadn't escaped unscathed.

But he could really care less about any of that. All of those things were inconsequential, common, easily replaced. What was irreplaceable however were...

"My trophies!" He snarled. His unique mods, his priceless collection, all of it blown to pieces.

"Well, at least we still have the other prisoner-" Swindle was cut off when he looked at the slab where the blue Seeker was supposed to be, and found it empty.

Lockdown glared at the arms dealer. "Why didn't you keep an optic on the other prisoner!?"

"I thought _you _were doing that!" He replied.

The bounty hunter gave an exasperated growl and stormed out of his workshop. "Doesn't matter. Those two aren't getting off my ship."

"Your ship? Excuse me, but if I recall correctly, I was the one who bargained for it." The tan grounder pointed out as he followed the larger mech.

Lockdown scoffed. "Bargained? You _stole _it!"

"Well, you shot the owner. But enough about that. I'll get to the bridge, pull the security cameras up, and pinpoint their location so you can go capture them." Swindle said and went ahead of the bounty hunter in the direction of the bridge.

"No."

The arms dealer stopped upon hearing that, and turned around. "What? But I thought you wanted to capture the prisoners."

"I do, and I will, but not that way. It's too…_easy_, and where's the fun in that?" Lockdown smirked sadistically, chainsaw revving.

There was something about an individual wielding a chainsaw that sent chills down the spine of anyone. But Swindle, who had seen this many times before, merely sighed. "Suit yourself. I'll be at the bridge. Comm me if you get over your helm."

"They're unarmed Seekers." Lockdown began, but was cut off as Swindle remarked, "Who managed to escape the workshop. They're the first prisoners to get that far."

"Doesn't mean anything. I'll still get them." He vowed. "They're going to pay for this." 

* * *

While they continued to walk, Thundercracker pressed his left servo flat against the cold wall. After a while, he moved his servo further up the wall, then down. A little further down, then a slight shift upwards. He kept walking, but kept his servo on that same height of the wall.

"What are you doing?" Skywarp asked.

Without stopping what he was doing, he replied. "I'm trying to find the Energon lines."

"Why?"

"All spaceships are built with the fuel tanks towards the front. The pipes direct Energon towards the combustion chamber at the back…"

The longer Thundercracker talked, the less Skywarp paid attention. Thundercracker's voice shifted from normal speech to a low, rumbling hum in the background. Skywarp's optics grew heavy, pedes dragging as his helm slowly drooped downwards, completely zoned out.

This didn't escape Thundercracker's notice. He stopped mid-explanation, optics narrowing in suspicion. "You didn't get any of that, did you?"

Skywarp's helm snapped back up to full alertness, so fast his neck gave an audible _crack_. "_Yeah_, totally."

The way he stretched out 'yeah' and how he wouldn't look Thundercracker in the optics said a completely different story.

"Alright, what did I just say?"

"Uh, something-something pipes." The purple Seeker flashed his best grin. Thundercracker wasn't convinced.

"Look, the main Energon pipe leads to the back. If we go the other way, we should be able to find the bridge, and the way to the escape pods." He summed up.

For the most part, Thundercracker had learned how to simplify his speech in order for his trinemate to understand. But on some occasions, he'd slip back into more complex words and topics. Not for the last time in his life, he wished he had someone of equal intellect to talk to.

"Yup, that's what I was going to say. Pipes, bridge, escape pods, freedom. Got it." Skywarp nodded.

The walls were pretty thick, but if Thundercracker pressed hard enough, he could definitely feel the constant pressurized flow of Energon going through the pipes. The tricky part was distinguishing the main line from the many other minor pipelines leading to other areas of the ship.

"Keep a look out. I almost have it." Thundercracker stopped, and closed his optics. He pressed both servos against the smooth metal wall and focused solely on the pipes.

"Ok, sure, I can do that." But as the nano-kliks went on, the paranoia that Lockdown was going to jump out of nowhere gnawed at Skywarp's spark. Everything around him, the slight shift of their shadows in the dim lighting, the utter crushing silence, just made the feeling worse.

Skywarp wanted to grab his blaster, but his wrists still stung from the injury he got when he had-had…actually, he didn't understand what he had done back there in the workshop. One moment he had been on the slab, and then he wasn't. Just like that. He looked down at his servos. Dried Energon circled his wrists, his servos streaked with thin streams where it had dripped down before drying. Messy, but solid, and in one piece.

A red message box popped up in his vision._ Energon Levels Low._

The purple Seeker discarded it. And then saw Lockdown at the other end of the hallway. Their optics locked, and the mismatched grounder smirked.

"TC, we got company. You better hurry up!"

"I'm trying. Just a little longer."

Skywarp whipped out his blaster and aimed at the bounty hunter. "Don't move or I'll shoot!"

Lockdown merely shook his head with a quiet chuckle. "Nice try, but we both know that blaster's empty."

"Scrap." Skywarp muttered, as his bluff was called.

The bounty hunter ran towards them, chainsaw throttling at full power. Skywarp shuddered. That sound was going to give him nightmares.

Thundercracker's optics snapped open. "I've got it!"

"Great! Now let's go!" Skywarp slipped his blaster into his sub-space.

Behind them, Lockdown transformed to alt-mode. His engine revved once, twice, and then he floored it towards them.

They hurried as fast as they could, but there was no way they could possibly outrun the bounty hunter who was quickly closing the distance between them. Skywarp rapidly blinked and shook his helm, as his vision got jam-packed with pop-ups regarding his decreasing fuel levels.

They turned around a corner, and spotted an open lift.

"Quick! In there!" Thundercracker said.

They packed themselves inside. Their wings clashed everywhere in the tiny space, but that was the least of their problems. Thundercracker slammed the button that would take them to the highest level, where the bridge had to be at.

The doors began to close.

Very, _very_ slowly.

"Seriously? Why do all these lifts always close dramatically slowly?" Skywarp groaned, as he tried and failed to force the doors together faster.

There was no time to get out of there and find another route, as Lockdown had done a tight drift around the corner and sped up. All the Seekers could do was watch as the bounty hunter got closer by the nano-klik.

Lockdown changed back to bipedal mode and reached out to grab them, but then the lift finally closed shut. His hook left a long scratch on the outside of the doors. He cursed and punched the ascending lift, before reluctantly opening his comm.

'Swindle, they're coming up your way.'

'Really?' The arms dealer asked in mock surprise. 'So, was them escaping, _again_, part of your plan?'

'Just. _Get_. _**Them.**_' He gritted.

* * *

The doors of the lift slid open with a cheery _ding!_

Right outside, Swindle unsheathed a wide arsenal of guns, cannons, and blasters, all aimed directly at Thundercracker and Skywarp. He bared his dentae in a faux grin. "Now then, let's get down to business, shall we?"

* * *

Me: (cracks knuckles) Ok, chapter 5, the escape off the Deathhead. Shouldn't be too long, 2 k at most.

Chapter: Turns 3 k and not even half done.

Me: Alright, I can work with this, it's not that bad. How much longer can it possibly get?

_One week later…_

Me: 5k?! And it's _still_ not done? (Bangs head against keyboard)

_One week later…_

Me: (Sigh) I'm going to end up splitting this, aren't I?

Chapter: ;)


End file.
